Choosing isolation in the face of stigma: Relational work in tie severance among Korean unwed mothers

Abstract

Though network scholars long have observed that people experience high rates of network turnover, theorization on how ties dissolve has lagged behind, with natural tie decay dominating as the primary explanation. Many deviants face stigma and become social pariahs from communities of origin, yet current network theories struggle to explain how such processes of network dissolution occur. Using interviews conducted with Korean unwed mothers, a highly stigmatized and hard-to-reach population, this study shows that shared culture in networks—norms, expectations, and meanings—plays a key role in how people navigate stigma in their networks. I demonstrate that tie severance requires work: relational work that matches network-specific culture. I propose a typology of tie severance processes along two dimensions, actor and motive, and identify associated relational work for each type. This study shows that macro-level cultural values are adapted to each network and (re)interpreted before relational work can be engaged to manage social relations.